Road-cart



(No Model.)

J. H. WHITAKER. ROAD CART.

No. 466,110. Patented Dec. 29, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. HITAKER, on DAVENPORT, IOWA.

ROAD-CART.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 466,110, dated December 29, 1891.

Application filed February 20, 1891. Serial No. 382,272. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. WHITAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road-Carts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of roadcarts in which a hinged connecting device is interposed between the shaft and cart-body,

so that the cart-bodyin its vertical movements upon its spring-bearing always sustains substantially a position parallel with the shaft, regardless of what portion of the cart-body the weight is located; and the object of my invention is that the hinged connecting device interposed between the shaft and cartbody may accommodate itself to the varying distances between the cart-bod y and shaft occasioned by the vertical movement of the cart-body without twisting the shaft or bending a hanger attached to the shaft or torsional strain thereto. I accomplish this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of the road-cart, the wheels being removed. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the hinged connecting device interposed between the cart-body and shaft; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged views of details which will be explained hereinafter.

Similar letters and figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A is the axle of a road cart; B, the body of such cart; 0, the seat integral therewith, and D a spring supporting the body of the cart by means of the brace-rods d, interposed between it and the under side of the seatO; but, however, any other form of cart-body, seat, and spring may be used which can be suitably combined with my invention.

E are the cart-shafts, the rear part preferably arranged to be parallel with the cartbody and below the level of the point of connection of the hinged connection device with such cart-body when in a noiroperative p0- sition.

In carrying out my invention in relation to iuterposing a hinged connecting device beopposing side of the cart-body, the outer or extreme edges of such hinged parallel bars being respectively hinged to the shaft and to the opposing side of the'cart-body; but as such bars would be unnecessarily cumbersome if solid I therefore prefer to cut them out interiorly, as at f, (shown in Fig. 3,) so as to form a rectangular frame 10, so it will have parallel side pieces and parallel end pieces, theopposing ends of such end pieces being hinged, as at a. For the purpose of hinging such side pieces of the frame to the cart-body I use partial clasps 11, which surround the side piece of the frame to the extent necessary, and are secured to the cart-body in any suitable manner, and for the purpose of hinging the opposite side piece of the frame to a shaft I use a U -shaped piece 12, the upper portion of the legs of which are secured to the respective shaft in any suitable manner, so as to leavea space within the bow of such piece to receive the side piece of the frame. as shown in Fig. 3. V

I am aware that in the Letters Patent granted to me January 6, 1891 ,and numbered 444,033, I proposed to hinge a rod horizontally to each outer side of the cart-body, the rod being provided at each end with right-angled projecting arms, the respective ends of which were hinged to hangers secured to the shaft of the cart, and in operation the hangers would give or bend outwardly sufficient to enable the cart-body to move vertically upward or downward; and I therefore do not broadly claim such combination, but limit myself to an improvement upon the invention thus secured.

The feature of my present invention is that the hinged connecting device between the shafts and cart-body may accommodate itself to the varying distances between the cart-body and shafts occasioned during the vertical movements of the cart-body without strain or leverage upon the shaft.

From the description I have given the construction and mode of operation of my invening ends and the sides of such frame respecttion will be readily understood by persons ively hinged to a shaft and the opposingside IO skilled in the art without further description. of the cart-body, substantially as described.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure A 5 byLetters Patent, JOHN H. \VIIITAKER.

In a road-cart, the combination, with the \Vitnesses: body and shafts of the frame, composed of two A. XV. OANTWELL, U-shaped bars hinged together at their opposl W. V. HUMPHREY. 

